Cape Town – The Parliamentary Budget Office has urged the government to disclose alternative revenue sources if the proposed two-percentage-point VAT increase is rejected.
The budget policy statement was postponed due to disagreements within the government of national unity.
According to SABC News, Executive Director Dumisani Djantjies suggested that Parliament should compel the government to reveal other revenue options.
“What is important in our view and analysis is to say maybe then parliament should coerce government to provide those options that were looked into, and in that way, they will be able to see what has been considered in our view and analysis that we are currently busy with, which I am not going to share a lot of until we publish next week.
“We do feel there is a lot of evidence of sources of revenue that we can still tap, and also breaking down to immediate need and medium- to long-term sources of revenue could be considered in that regard,” the report quoted Djantjies as saying.
Meanwhile, Cabinet and Treasury is set to hold a special meeting on Monday to finalise the budget, with Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni emphasising a collective, non-partisan approach to decision-making, according to IOL.
“Nobody is bringing a party jacket, there is a mechanism that we are putting in place so that you don’t have rumours. We are meeting again in a special Cabinet meeting next week Monday because it is part of that process where we analyse our part and our input as Cabinet to then allow the Minister of Finance to do his part,” the report quoted Ntshavheni as saying.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
